Jhonatan Narváez sprints to top-10 finish at the Giro d’Italia

A day after claiming his third stage victory of the race, Jhonatan Narváez sprinted across the line in eighth place on stage 12 of the Giro d’Italia.

It marks another good outing for the UAE Team Emirates-XRG puncheur, who is increasingly coming into contention for the maglia ciclamino.

Raced between Imperial and Novi Ligure, stage 12 offered an interesting prospect on Thursday afternoon. The run to the line was ostensibly flat, thereby suiting the bunch sprinters, but a category three climb sat 50km from the finish. For those keen to reduce the size of the peloton, it would provide ample terrain to set a hard pace.

So it proved, with NSN Cycling Team and Movistar combining to shell the likes of Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Casper van Uden (Team Picnic PostNL) from the group. The three teams of Milan, Magnier and Van Uden sought to close the gap inside the final 50km, but they were always chasing a balloon on a windy day.

At the front of the race, EF Education-EasyPost added to the ranks of teams keen to keep the pace high, and as the final 10km approached, all looked set for a reduced bunch sprint. There would be attacks, of course, with Igor Arrieta of UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) both trying their luck, but the terrain did not suit their lightweight profile.

Such concerns were not felt by Alec Segaert, however, with the Bahrain-Victorious rouleur somewhat of a time trial specialist. Echoing the move that landed him the Grand Prix de Denain title earlier in the season, the 23-year-old made a daring attack with just 3.3km to ride on Thursday afternoon.

It was an attack that would not be closed before the finish line in Novi Ligure.

As the team of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) marshalled the front of the peloton, purely in the interests of keeping their leader safe, Segaert put his head down and powered away. Two seconds became four, six seconds became eight, and before long, the Belgian had a sizeable gap over the reduced peloton behind.

Uno-X Mobility ultimately tried to scramble together a pursuit in the final kilometre, but it was too little, too late, for the bunch. As Segaert landed his first Grand Tour stage victory, Narváez piloted himself well for UAE Team Emirates-XRG and found his own line to sprint.

It was eighth place for the Ecuadorian national champion, who now sits just 11 points behind Magnier in the points jersey standings. More opportunities will come for the Emirati squad before the Giro d’Italia’s final rest day on Monday, 25 May.

Fabio Baldato (Sports Director): “Some of the strongest sprinters and favourites were dropped today. NSN, Movistar and EF set a very hard pace in the final part, while we stayed calm and managed the race exactly as we planned. We knew Jhony had the condition to deliver a strong sprint.

“Even with several fast riders still in the group, we were aiming for a top-five result but he got slightly boxed in and had to launch his sprint from far out. But, overall it was still a solid performance from him. Considering how demanding the stage was, he still picked up important points and moved closer to the ciclamino classification. Tomorrow will be another opportunity, it’s a particular and hard stage.”

Giro d’Italia 2026 stage 12 results:

1. Alec Segaert (Bahrain-Victorious) 3:53:00

2. Toon Aerts (Lotto Intermarché) +3″

3. Guillermo Thomas Silva (XDS Astana Team) s.t

8. Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +2:33

Giro d’Italia 2026 general classification after stage 12:

1. Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain-Victorious) 48:10:38

2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +33″

3. Thymen Arensman (Netcompany Ineos) +2:03